Ryanair’s Offer Said to Fail to Sway EU in Aer Lingus Review

By Aoife White and Kari Lundgren -
Nov 12, 2012

Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA)’s offer of
concessions won’t prevent European Union regulators sending
formal objections over its bid for Aer Lingus Group Plc,
according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Ryanair’s offer of remedies was deemed insufficient to
warrant being sent to rival airlines for their comments, said
the people who asked not to be identified because the merger
review process isn’t public. The EU may send the Dublin-based
company a so-called statement of objections citing possible
problems with the deal within weeks, one of the people said.

Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said in
September that Europe’s biggest discount airline had offered a
“revolutionary” package to help win antitrust approval for the
bid. He said last week that he’d found “multiple up-front
buyers” willing to purchase slots and stoke competition on
routes where only the two Irish operators are currently active.

The EU is probing Ryanair’s renewed 694 million-euro ($883
million) bid for its Irish rival, five years after it blocked an
earlier takeover attempt, citing the likelihood of the deal
reducing competition. A takeover could eliminate competition on
many of the routes linking Dublin with European cities, the EU’s
antitrust agency said in August.

Declan Kearney, a spokesman for Aer Lingus declined to
comment, as did Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for the Brussels-
based European Commission. Representatives for Ryanair declined
to comment.

Ryanair has a 29.8 percent stake in Aer Lingus (AERL) and is
appealing to the U.K. courts over a U.K. Competition Commission
probe into its holding after the national regulator said it may
lead to higher prices.